[Struggle] to choose a case.

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Wakoo
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Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:32 am

[Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Wakoo » Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:38 am

Hello,

I have currently using a Thermaltake Element S that start to show its age and has the bare minimum in term of damping and IO, I already replaced all fan with noctua and removed the top 230mm that can't be silent but I can't do better. I plan on upgrading the case, and then upgrade in the current or next year the MB, CPU and GPU. I'm a obsessed with the noise of my computer, I even went passive GPU with the GeForce 6600, until i had to drop the AGP port...

Here are my current specs:
Single SSD 850 EVO with M/2 added after the upgrade.
Intel Core i5 2400 (overclocked as much as possible with semi unlock coef and undervolted)
Strix 970 (Fan stop if idle)
Seasonic 500W Modular (i think it's just 80+)
8go of ram

I will stay at the same range of power consumption, maybe some extra power to the GPU and some less to the CPU, but i will stay at the 500W range.

I would love to have contained heat inside the case, and the most silent possible. Out of the box performance would be lovely, but i'm open to adding another 50€ for increased silence.

Here is what I found so far:
Silent Base 600: Dead silent but poor heat management, the GPU will go full berserk to cool itself
Fractal Design R6: Bit less silent than 600, but a bit better heat management
Silverstone FT05: I've seen a lot of mixed review, great design and heat management, but some say it's noisy ? I think it's okay to have some noise while gaming but i don't want to have the GPU full speed due to stacked heat, as long as i can't hear the case when i'm idle, i'm happy.

Please help me.

Abula
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Re: Strugle to choose a case.

Post by Abula » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:35 pm

Welcome to SPCR!!!

You cant go wrong with the R6, its a good case that has been refined gen over gen. The FT05 is not a good silent oriented case, its more an airflow case, but i wouldn't recommended it, the fans while can be driven down you dont have much options to change them, so its best to go with 120/140mm cases so later on if you decide you need more or even change the existing fans you can easily do it. The 600 to me seems like a great case but too restricted, i even consider buying one, but i was thinking on running without the front cover. The R6 is a good case to build on, has good support for hdds, good cable management, even rad support, the included fans are decent not much bad can be said, im eyeballing one though, specially for the side mounting but if i go this route is to mod and add openign to the side to cool off a raid card or capture card.

CA_Steve
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Re: Strugle to choose a case.

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:41 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Your Thermaltake case looks to have very restricted front airflow - that's probably why you are having heat/noise issues. Either the R6 or SB600 would be a good fit and you've captured the differences (although I don't think the gpu would go berserk..I would add a second Silent Wings 140mm in the front). There is also the Define C. The FT05 can provide great airflow - but you'll live with louder idle noise than the other two.

You don't mention how you cool the CPU...

lodestar
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by lodestar » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:18 am

Wakoo wrote:I already replaced all fan with Noctua... Here are my current specs: Single SSD 850 EVO with M/2 added after the upgrade.
The Fractal Define C as suggested by CA_Steve would probably be a better fit if you don't need all the additional drive slots of cases like the R6. You would also be able to re-use the Noctua fans that you have already bought.

Wakoo
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Wakoo » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:35 am

Thanks you for your welcome and very fast answer !
CA_Steve wrote: Your Thermaltake case looks to have very restricted front airflow - that's probably why you are having heat/noise issues.

[...]
You don't mention how you cool the CPU...
My current GPU temp are 39°C(0 rpm) idle 76°C(1600ish rpm) after an half an hour burn, and for the CPU 34°C(600ish rpm) idle and 52°C(1100ish rpm) after an half an hour burn. I had to remove the rubber padding to fit my fan into the fan cage and i think it's the main reason i hear them so much. The fan cage are also not rubberized, and are plastic against plastic so pretty much free vibration transmission.
lodestar wrote:The Fractal Define C as suggested by CA_Steve would probably be a better fit if you don't need all the additional drive slots of cases like the R6. You

would also be able to re-use the Noctua fans that you have already bought.
I acknowledge my purchase of the noctua were a rookie mistake, i bought 2 Noctua NF-S12A FLX, and my NH-U12P SE2 was with 2 NF-P12. My current setup is 1 Noctua NF-S12A FLX and 1 NF-P12 as frontal intake, and 1 NF S12A FLX in the exhaust behind the CPU. All of those fan are with ULNA. The last NF-P12 stayed on the CPU cooler mounted with LNA. I should have never bought that much low pressure fan. The Define C comes with its fan so i'm still stacking fan, and they are 140mm instead of 120mm...
CA_Steve wrote:Either the R6 or SB600 would be a good fit and you've captured the differences (although I don't think the gpu would go berserk..I would add a second Silent Wings 140mm in the front).
If an extra fan fixes the flow, maybe I could put one on the bottom slot next to the power supply to directly feed the GPU (my case is on hard floor) ? Do you think i can reuse one of my current fan and connect it to the fan controller of the case ?
Abula wrote:The FT05 is not a good silent oriented case, its more an airflow case, but i wouldn't recommended it, the fans while can be driven down you dont have much options to change them, so its best to go with 120/140mm cases so later on if you decide you need more or even change the existing fans you can easily do it.
You wouldn't recommend it for a silent build or as a case ? I also read that you can replace the fan with 3 120mm is it that hard to do ?
CA_Steve wrote:The FT05 can provide great airflow - but you'll live with louder idle noise than the other two.
I really love the concept, maybe i could add a thermal control that shutdown the case fan at low temps and restart at 600 RPM with a nice hysteresis ? The comparaison with the Corsair 600Q review of the website show amazing temp and low noise, and is the main reason i'm considering this case.
Abula wrote:The R6 is a good case to build on, has good support for hdds, good cable management, even rad support, the included fans are decent not much bad can be said, im eyeballing one though, specially for the side mounting but if i go this route is to mod and add openign to the side to cool off a raid card or capture card.
I'm leaning more on the SB600 with an extra fan now, i will either go full dampening with it, or the "open case" route with the FT05.

Thanks again for your insight.

EDIT: fixed some wording
Last edited by Wakoo on Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:51 pm

Wakoo wrote:
CA_Steve wrote:Either the R6 or SB600 would be a good fit and you've captured the differences (although I don't think the gpu would go berserk..I would add a second Silent Wings 140mm in the front).
If an extra fan fixes the flow, maybe I could put one on the bottom slot next to the alimentation to directly feed the GPU (my case is on hard floor) ? Do you think i can reuse one of my current fan and connect it to the fan controller of the case ?
In general, 2 front fans and 1 rear fan works pretty well for most cooling situations. You should try that first and see how well it works.

Also, given 52C load temp on the CPU, you could certainly lower it's fans' rpm. Aim for 65C. For the gpu, 76C is an ok temp. Hopefully, the new case will provide more airflow and help you get to the lower 70's. Not sure if you will see much lower fan speeds...I think this model starts at 1100rpm.

Abula
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Abula » Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:33 pm

Wakoo wrote:I'm leaning more on the SB600 with an extra fan now, i will either go full dampening with it, or the "open case" route with the FT05.
I still have mix feeling on the FT05, i think it should perform better is what i would say, maybe its not its fault, GPU heatpipes design has changed a lot the last few gens, and some say the horizontal design dont play well with certain designs.

If you want a more open design, go with the Corsair Air 740, it has mesh front, up and down, and you can mount around 7-8 fans (120/140) if you wish, i can tell you that my GPU is a lot quieter on it and reaches lower load temps. Again not the best case for building a silent build, all the mesh will create turbulance and thus noise, but if you can drive it to inaudible levels its alright, also not the best if you have a noisy hdd. But for you hardware i dont think you need it, a case like the SB600 or R6 or DefineC should be enough.

I finish two build on the 740, and been really amazed on the case, probably not for everybody, but i really like it, the only two things that i do wish they would improve is Fan filters for top and bottom (front do have) and instead of plastic to do a glass panel.

PS, i just ordered the Fractal Design Define R6, personally i think its a great design overall, no glass went with the solid panel, i want to mod the side panel to add one or two fan to cool a card that will be mounted horizontal (not the gpu, probably a raid card or capture card).
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Wakoo
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Wakoo » Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:46 am

The SB600 is on the way, I also took a BitFenix Formula 80 Plus Gold - 550 Watt.

I will keep you guys updated.

Wakoo
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:32 am

Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Wakoo » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:19 am

Ok the case is mounted, the pure wing 2 120 has low pitch noise even at the lowest speed, I put the noise adapter from my noctua and it's at silent level now.
Unsurprisingly I couldn't stop the heat from stacking and my GPU was at 2150rpm(77°C) after 50min of OCCT which is not bad considering I reduced the extract fan speed.
So the purewings went as intake and one of my NF-S12A replaced it as exhaust, I also fixed the front pure wings 140mm which has a low pitch mechanical noise at low speed not blocked by the case dampening, I also put a noise adapter on it.
My GPU is now at 1900rpm (74-75°C) with the fan at full speed and I can't hear the case at low speed, now here is the catch, the noctua takes the air from the top intake which is kinda open in the SB600. Do you think it's a good idea to block it with tape to increase the vacuum of the GPU side ?

Note: The ambient temperature is around 25°C

CA_Steve
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:27 am

Grab some cardboard and see. Experimentation is part of the fun :)

Abula
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Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Abula » Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:16 pm

Wakoo wrote:Ok the case is mounted, the pure wing 2 120 has low pitch noise even at the lowest speed, I put the noise adapter from my noctua and it's at silent level now.
Unsurprisingly I couldn't stop the heat from stacking and my GPU was at 2150rpm(77°C) after 50min of OCCT which is not bad considering I reduced the extract fan speed.
So the purewings went as intake and one of my NF-S12A replaced it as exhaust, I also fixed the front pure wings 140mm which has a low pitch mechanical noise at low speed not blocked by the case dampening, I also put a noise adapter on it.
My GPU is now at 1900rpm (74-75°C) with the fan at full speed and I can't hear the case at low speed, now here is the catch, the noctua takes the air from the top intake which is kinda open in the SB600. Do you think it's a good idea to block it with tape to increase the vacuum of the GPU side ?

Note: The ambient temperature is around 25°C
What rpms are you using the purewings 2? i thought the Bequiet 600 had Silentwings3. By your comment of adding the noise adapters, im assuming you are running them at full speed?

The Asus 970 STRIX is also a very noisy GPU, i used to own 2, and it was even more noisy than two MSI GTX980Ti.

Another thing to consider is that OCCT is not a very likely scenario for a PC to be on, while its a good stress test, its not likely to ever be on that level of load on the day to day basis.

Wakoo
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:32 am

Re: [Struggle] to choose a case.

Post by Wakoo » Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:58 am

Abula wrote:What rpms are you using the purewings 2? i thought the Bequiet 600 had Silentwings3. By your comment of adding the noise adapters, im assuming you are running them at full speed?

The Asus 970 STRIX is also a very noisy GPU, i used to own 2, and it was even more noisy than two MSI GTX980Ti.

Another thing to consider is that OCCT is not a very likely scenario for a PC to be on, while its a good stress test, its not likely to ever be on that level of load on the day to day basis.
I don't know about the rpm since i'm using the controller provided with the case, all I can do is measure the output voltage for the 3 settings, i will do it once i open the case to change the airflow pattern. At low speed sometime they don't start and need to be put at higher voltage first. The only alternative of the adapter is getting a fan controler such as commander pro or an aquaero, or a decent motherboard that support the change of fan speed at runtime.

That's good news for the GPU, i'm looking forward getting a quieter setup for my next upgrade but at least the fan stop at low frequency.

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